Many telephone booths in Hanoi have been decorated with colourful paintings carried out by young volunteers. They are the booths located on Phan Chu Trinh-Ly Thuong Kiet intersection which were covered by advertisements, affecting the image of the capital. The paintings are mostly natural scenes. Many people have shown strong support for the group’s work. Duong Bich Diep, a group member, said that they used the environmentally-friendly colours for the paintings. The work has been done following permission from the municipal authorities, Diep added. The group plans to expand the decoration to many streets in Hanoi such as Trang Tien, Ngo Quyen and Hang Khay.
VietNamNet Bridge - Public telephones are likely to appear again in Ho Chi Minh City after nearly two years of absence. HCM City Department of Information and Telecommunications. The stations will also serve local people; however, main purpose is to offer information for tourists. The city has not decided to use card or coins for these boxes. The new phone-information booths will be installed at the locations of the previous phone boxes, which were removed in 2010. If the phone booths are effective, the city will set up many more booths around the city. In October 2012, about 2,000 public…... [read more]
Public concern has been raised over the new colour of the Hanoi Opera House after recent maintenance, with cultural experts and architects agreeing it should adhere to the building's original historic and architectural values. Many claim historical integrity has been compromised Residents in the capital were surprised by the facelift of the Hanoi Opera House, which has been painted in too bright and modern colour. Architect Tran Huy Anh, a member of the Vietnam Association of Architect regretted seeing what had been done to one of the city's cultural symbols. Bright yellow paint for the old Hanoi Opera House Workers…... [read more]
A newly-issued regulation by the Hanoi People's Committee has banned the construction of trade centres or new residential areas in the old quarter. The old quarter is a national historical site with the typical architecture style of old Hanoi. It still has many traditional crafts and festivals which serve the quarter's function as a trade and tourism centre. Currently, this quarter has a population of about 66,600 but it is expected to be reduced to 45,000 by 2020. The regulation also stated that underground constructions are banned from most of the streets in the old quarter. Underground constructions can be…... [read more]
Forty electronic booths were set up Tuesday along Hanoi's main routes to provide information to tourists. Each looks like a public telephone booth but has one or two 17 inch screens showing in English and Vietnamese a map of Hanoi, information about and directions to local hotels, restaurants, and dishes, and tourist or historical sites. Director of the city's Tourism Department, Tran Huu Binh, said they were the first of 200 booths to be set up under a US$2 million project between the department and the Dat Viet Advertising Company. Some of them were placed around Hoan Kiem Lake and…... [read more]
Phone booths in most of Hanoi’s streets are broken and, many of them are completely seriously destroyed. Broken glass, filthy key pads, phone booths serve as a place to put advertisements. Some have even become public rest rooms. And even the ones that do work are in bad shape. Nguyen Tuyet Nhung, a person who lives near a phone booth in Phan Huy Chu Street, said, “I’ve never seen anybody use it, except for men urinating on it.” Speaking with DTiNews reporter, Tran Thi Yen from Hanoi Telecom, said Hanoi has more than 1,000 card phone cabins and many of…... [read more]